another day another drone base turns out the u.s. is hiding one in saudi arabia news outlets have been keeping the military secret for over a year so when do military missions overruled the public's right to know will question more. under fire president obama's pick for cia director is on the hill today answering tough questions on everything from the kill list to drone strikes coming up a critical look at john brennan's record. like father like son rand paul might have followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a lawmaker but what about his stance is i had a look at what paul preaches when it comes to foreign policy. it's thursday february seventeenth pm here in washington d.c.

i'm liz wall and you're watching our tea. we begin today taking a look at drones in the role they play and achieving u.s. foreign policy goals it's an issue we've covered extensively here at r t and finally making its way into the mainstream conversation well in order to operate these unmanned aircraft the u.s. needs military bases relatively close to the planned targets turns out the u.s. had it had one such base in saudi arabia for two years where in saudi arabia the exact location is still a mystery but chances are you had no idea it existed at all that's because it's been somewhat of a secret apparently many media outlets knew all about the base but didn't report it it's now coming to light that the american media did not report on it because of an agreement with the obama administration this according to the washington post and the new york times who are now coming forward with what they've known all this time for more it was joined earlier by russ baker editor in chief of who what why dot

com and i first asked him if the broken secret comes as a surprise. not really it's very common practice among american mainstream news organizations to receive requests from the u.s. government to withhold information and they seem to make decisions on a case by case basis what's very disturbing about this is that you see these deals being cut basically between a few of these organizations typically the washington post new york times perhaps the associated press and not the rest of the media we don't really know on what basis do you decide that the american people should not be provided information it gets into all whole raft of different issues ethics issues journalism issues that i find perplexing and very very important now want to go into the justification that they're providing their reasoning behind this the washington post decided to break

the silence when i found out the new york times was about to do the same here is what the washington post said the washington post has or framed from disclosing the location at the request of the administration which cited concern that exposing the facility would undermine operations against an al qaeda affiliate regarded as the network's most potent threat to the united states as well as a potentially as well as potentially damage counterterrorism collaboration with saudi arabia so reza what do you think about this reasoning is the secrecy justified well let's go back first of all and look at the original phrasing when the new york times originally wrote about the drone program back in two thousand and eleven they actually said that the drones had been operating from an unnamed state now that's a very sneaky thing because when you think about state you think about

a state as in it's one of the fifty states in the united states rather than state meaning a foreign country so that was. key to begin with they don't acknowledge that they were that sticky but that's what they were but another issue would be this they say that they withheld the information because of al qaeda and because of a threat to american security but in fact there has not been substantial evidence in an awfully long time of al qaeda presenting any kind of an imminent danger to the united states itself and you need to look at the second half of the statement that relates to saudi arabia and i believe that it is actually having much more to do with propping up the royal family regime in saudi arabia than it does with actually protecting the united states itself. with the proliferation of do you think that we can expect to see similar kinds of bases we know that there are plans in the works to build a base and. there's already one in djibouti do you expect more marmion.

well this is an unseen battle that's raging behind the scenes at our website who was we've just begun digging into it and will be doing quite a few more stories and happy to come on to r.t. and talk about it one of the things we're seeing is a new memos we've released wiki leaks in cooperation with wiki leaks regarding conversations that general petraeus was having with yemen back several years ago before he was cia director about a turf battle between the cia and the joint special operations command of the pentagon over whether or not drone policy in yemen was even a good idea and whether they were not in fact creating more militants than doing anything else the the cia's drone program came out of nowhere and post nine eleven has grown and grown and grown there are more than two thousand people work in its counterterrorism operations it's become a vast vast new part and justification of the actually reason for the cia even to

exist and as the new york times pointed out i believe it was yesterday they went in with that drone strike trying to get. people in yemen and they ended up actually killing a. rather cleric who was actually giving speeches against al qaeda so it's a very very dangerous a very risky thing we don't know nearly enough about it we need to know much much more not less as you said that we see that the drone campaign is playing a bigger and increasingly larger role in achieving u.s. foreign policy goals but at the same time it's a very secretive program and that is expected to be discussed and john brennan hearing from the director that is going on right now is one of bringing this another interesting development when it comes to grow in the iranian state media last night showed alleged footage of a u.s. drone in the hands of iran the u.s.

claims that the drone. disappeared over afghanistan before they said that the drone that the drone wasn't missing if this footage which the authenticity of it has not been verified but if it is indeed a u.s. drone does this cast a special in on what the pentagon has been saying it certainly does and i think that was damage control it's very embarrassing for them to admit that a country that's supposedly so primitive in many respects iran was capable of basically hijacking that drone and then as it seems to be the case what iran has claimed that they reverse engineered it they now are claiming that they have built their own line of drones that there was assembling them and i think that makes the whole sort of power equation quite a bit more complicated very very interesting obviously is a subject of great alarm in washington yeah i mean it seems like there is more

quiet seems like when it comes to drones there's always more questions than answers of course with this new development iran and iran. iran saying one thing the u.s. is saying another a whole lot of questions of course the issue of drones is finally in the spotlight now it's supposed to be a focal point of john brennan's confirmation hearing to be the head of the cia do you expect that there will be more transparency on the drone campaign especially now that at least we're seeing some more dialogue it's possible we saw the leak the recently of that justice department paper giving some hint about the internal justifications for targeting american citizens with drones as they did with anwar i'll locky an american in yemen and so you know certainly there's a battle going on right now civil liberties groups are saying it's absolute imperative that we get more of a handle on it i think the larger picture is that we need to understand much more

about who drives policy in the u.s. government who's really in the driver's seat and what interests really are being served there are a lot of other factors in here there's a very profitable thing called the oil business very concerned about what's happening in yemen concerned about stability in saudi arabia iran is not just a so-called threat it is actually a power player in that region where there are shiite or sympathetic with iran living in many of those countries and so there's quite a bit more going on that we don't tend to hear about in the analyses that you. think thank you so much for weighing in that was russ baker editor in chief who what why dot com. speaking of drones president obama's pick for head of the cia was grilled on the issue today a group of senators wants the obama administration to make a public document called the white paper public this is the official legal opinion

that details when the targeted killing of american citizens is allowed by law and brennan happens to be the architect of president obama's so-called kill list and the drone campaign earlier i spoke with artie's just seen and her hair underhill from the capitol where she brought us the latest from brennan's confirmation hearings. while between the hot air from some politicians on the hot tempers from some protesters things got quite lively during the hearing i actually asked her about five interruptions from protesters dianne feinstein who's the head of the committee and up kicking everybody out of the room so all the media and and the general public ended up having to leave the hearing and they resumed the hearing while the members of the media and the public were outside and we do have that clip and we saw you and confusion going on during that. all right we do have that clip we just want to let's just play let's got quite chaotic wanted to play this clip how we got off to a start. they apply my yes i. heard

her right you know her. i was ok. all right i think we're. obviously drone is very controversial a lot of heated opinions when it comes to the drone campaign just and i want to ask you john brennan he is described as being the architect of the drone campaign what is the extent of his involvement what is his record when it comes to drones. well his nomination today is quite controversial so it was four years ago that he was obama's first considered him for the cia but he withdrew his consideration because of his association with the bush administration and and torture policies

and now today he's been a close adviser to obama for the past four years who's counterterrorism adviser and with that he's been closely associated with the drone campaign that's happened over the past four years and as this debate goes on an interesting public poll just came out that i want to bring up when it comes to public opinion on drones it seems the majority of people in the united states support their use seventy five percent approve of military drone attacks on people and other targets deemed a threat to the u.s. only thirteen percent disapprove so just and i also want to point out the approval rating goes down when we're talking about american citizens of broad drone seem to be one of the few issues that gets bipartisan support so with this in mind can we expect senators to ask brennan tough questions when it comes to the drone campaign . all this is certainly been

a bipartisan issue through the poll that you just mentioned you see time and time again when americans feel threatened or afraid they're willing to give up civil liberties and to me time again with t.s.a. and all sorts of other issues as for today you have sort of a mixed bag where senators democratic senators want to make sure that he was confirmed. but they're also concerned about civil liberties and you see the republicans wanting to poke at the obama administration and lastly just seen we're seeing that he's being poked as you say is there a sense that brennan senate confirmation could be at risk or is this more of a show of concern and an opportunity to ask these questions. all of this is certainly a time for senators to question the policies under obama's administration for the war on terror but as we know the senate is controlled by by democrats so it would

be quite shocking if if he wasn't indeed confirmed right just saying thanks for keeping an eye on how that hearing important hearing is going over there on capitol hill that was our t. producer just seen under house or not too far into president obama's second term and already there's talk of who's running in two thousand and sixteen among the possible contenders senator rand paul with his father now out of the political picture ron paul's followers hope that his son rand will carry the torch of his libertarian legacy yesterday at the heritage foundation and he talked about the importance of keeping foreign policy aligned with the constitution when foreign policy has become so monolithic so lacking in debate that republicans and democrats routinely pass foreign policy statements without debating without votes where are the calls for moderation the calls for restraint anyone who questions the bipartisan consensus is immediately castigated rebuked and their patriotism

challenged but there are some that are weary of the younger paul in question just how closely his beliefs resemble that of his father earlier was joined by matt welch editor in chief for reason i asked him if brand has been able to appeal to a conservative base that his father repulsed. yes already in the very fact that we were the heritage foundation in february of twenty thirty. years of heritage banging the drums for more funding and more world. there was about one month before the november elections with the party in ram all with all those heritage presidents and as owner of a rose a serious piece with the american enterprise institute head and also bill kristol of the weekly standard basically saying hate the party kids don't get cocky and don't dare. rampaul when they're saying he's going to cut military can advocate

military. and that establishment has railed against them not out of thousands of inviting him on to their territory and after him to get off so he's already making headway as he spoke at the republican national convention which is father's was not invited and he's getting a fair hearing on some similar ideas in very different packaging than what his father and i want to read a piece of here right up here on this issue you say quote by insinuating himself successfully into the heart of the g.o.p. rand paul is doing more than mainstreaming libertarian flavored foreign policy he is forcing the purest and therefore theoretical instincts of his father's coalition to come into contact with the messy business of broad political persuasion so how exactly is he able to achieve that how does he make an anti interventionist message more palatable to conservatives well he doesn't talk about blowback in the way that his father does he doesn't say that the basic cause of people

a fact is being over there he says that contributes to it but that's not vicious. in a speech yesterday tried to create kind of a false choice to do a should between you know a super neo conservative interventionist and total. and he pauses that there is a third way you see what he's getting at is kind of exaggerating both sides for back but he's trying to speak in the language of the constitution of the school responsibility and he's not looking for every opportunity to kind of. be shockingly abrasive which a lot of people take wrong almost in a good way in a bad way to people who hate ron paul just can't abide by some of the things that he says and those people tend to say rand paul seriously as both a senator and as a contender for the presidency now at the same time it seems that rand has prevent a contrast his father in some areas particularly when it comes to israel so how

much is he really like his father in terms of foreign policy is not his father i mean he said this yesterday in both speech and in a phone conversation that he had reporters afterwards one of the purposes of the speech in his mind creates a separation between him and his father you know one of the next four to six eight years answering for everything that his father says or does whereas his father acts on principle in theory and that's what makes a great track which a lot of people a lot of young people the people like this year. the still principle rand paul will say well we need a robust apprentice radical islam is not going away even if we in the world morrow and he sort of couch you more in a language for his real he made a very foolish i think on that last week recently saying attack on israel would be attacking the united states now that might well be our official on stated policy for several decades but it's not something that you need to say as

a senator let alone the president you know he is also telling israel that in the rand paul presidency he would or an aid to israel is. it's unlike that the way you just said about his view on israel that makes people think that you know maybe he isn't so much like his father. mad i want to ask you to what extent you expect these ideas to gain traction and make their way into the mainstream dialogue. no question i mean a lot of the tea party people are with rand paul on these questions and a lot of them seem to be much more aggressive and interventionist for all these women like ted cruz for example who was beating the drum to get a go so it's definitely the faction is growing there are more people than just people maybe all who are on capitol hill talking about cutting military and being less interventionist broady of just a mosh promise map you have

a growing faction it's still a minority faction and we will learn a lot in the coming weeks with a reaction to the drone program sas nation program and also with the sequester defense how serious this actually is i still think they're outnumbered but it definitely will grow and we are seeing certainly rand is able to appeal to this base a lot more than his father did in terms of you know this conservative base and of course rand is being i as a possible contender for two thousand and sixteen so what do you think do you think that he will continue to have this this measured approach or will this brand of libertarian libertarianism. will make its way into the conservative mainstream do you expect his views to evolve more so to be more palatable with the you know the establishment republicans what do you think sure i think i mean he's already gaining traction and you already see among the short list of people who are clubs about in terms of the twenty's it seems the nomination they tend to be more serious

about fiscal conservatism that we've seen in generation people like bobby jindal. who is not that serious about i want to fight the president and marco rubio and they're more humble about foreign policy i wouldn't call them nonintervention a slimy stretch the imagination rubio sort of a hawk but the previous generation of twenty twelve. two thousand and eight on ron paul the center of gravity is moving in that direction sure and i expect him to continue on that right i guess we're going to have to wait and see a map thanks for coming on the show that was not well the editor in chief for reason thank you for shit. and now we take a look at a legal fight between the united states and the small island nation of antigua it began after the u.s. made it illegal for its citizens to gamble on and he was online gaming industry now while a nation is fighting back with the help of the world trade organization argue correspond

on a saucy a turk into has more. a heavenly spot in the caribbean welcome to antigua and barbuda a tiny country with a population of under ninety thousand people. gambling is a popular pastime here locals and tourists alike i want to have the last vegas of the caribbean because i'm going to have a lot of caribbean countries that have casino is what i should sometimes be a stepping stone ahead of a lot of the the casinos but even more powerful money maker here a mere decade ago was the online gaming business we once had a thriving. internet gaming industry that employs over four thousand people and that industry is gone now due to actions of the united states legally licensed internet gambling companies provided jobs for five percent of the locals and racket in over three billion dollars annually but with americans as the key players u.s.

officials weren't happy and banned offshore gaming even though the industry is completely legal in an america say that the rest of the world catches the cold. from thousands of jobs and tremendous cash inflow to an industry crumbled and those who make it up treated as criminals they were prosecutions of persons who had companies operating companies in antigua and these persons some of them were indicted and arrested and had their property and funds seize the potential targets people like this online gambling operator fearful of what the u.s. can do to him because of his business legally licensed in n t god he wants to remain anonymous. or certainly. many many. other forums. are literally holding the store. will. the island nation has had enough and has put

a fight at the world trade organization for its legal rights money and regaining a collapsed industry it's been going on for a decade. and we think it's time to bring the plane and demand the w t o took the side of the tiny country in the decision that ruffled the feathers of the u.s. under the world trade organization and he has the right to basically grab the assets of the united states including the particular copyrights trademarks patents so they can sell microsoft word for a dollar each the w t o decision allows n t good to completely ignore us copyright laws until the money lost due to the online gaming collapse is made up for but limited to twenty one million dollars a year the u.s. concern now is that the w.c.l. have potentially laid out a welcome mat for the pirates of the caribbean but the tiny island nation says the

bullion giants we have to sell to play for essentially wiping out the second largest orthopedic in economy i'm sure for the dispute between american men to go frightens many locals because of what may come next they won't talk about it on camera but for tourists the flop in the face of the u.s. is all the gossip that kind of money it is and it's not going to hurt the u.s. economy that much of the difference in the going to be no. but but there's also the u.s. will take some action against well while in to guns have won a battle at the w t o there's still a long fight ahead the first time that a small country took on a large country in the world trade organization. and it was. kind of a you know a bad thing that the united states is just ignoring now the ball is now in the court of this little island while the copyright left is now an official option to cash in on and to go hopes it might be able to negotiate a deal with the u.s. that is good for all all before. ships have failed just as you churkin i r t

reporting from n t good barbuda in the caribbean. a look now at the state of u.s. media after some recent blunders questions are being raised about news outlets failing to vet sources or do their research are things i said oh has more it's no secret that media outlets screw up we of course all remember this fiasco from last year the individual mandate has been ruled unconstitutional justices have just got it both the centerpiece provisions of the obama health care law ok yeah it's exact that's the final word on the individual mandate they could be a little bit more complicated by getting completing their mation or getting inflicting information as they say there's going to be some confusion out there conflicting reports coming in from inside the supreme court so let's let's i'm drawing any final conclusions are still trying to figure this out be cautious with this we're trying to do the best we can right now as we sort through it and we need it later

a lower third actually may not be correct for a take several minutes as a reading through this again i we are reading now that the entire law has been upheld. however the recent case of all-star notre dame linebacker manti teo makes us question just how easy it is for a fake story to take on a life of its own and how quickly media jump on a story instead of doing due diligence during the college football season tale story of overcoming personal tragedy captured the hearts and minds of americans across the country. in an comprehensible six hour time span notre dame linebacker manti. learned that both his grandmother and his girlfriend had died. the only problem wasn't true after numerous outlets reported for months the tail suffered the crushing loss of his girlfriend when i could get a cancer sports blog deadspin uncovered not everything was as it seemed and no such person ever existed media outlets like e.s.p.n.

never questioned tayo story even when there were flashing caution lights there was no big chair for the girlfriend no one ever saw quotes from her family and there was no record of her at stanford university where supposedly went to school most journalists were more interested in puff pieces than actually digging into more fascinating story beneath the surface in other media dispute england's the sunday times has stopped accepting freelance pictures from the war zone in syria. when freelance war photographer finally or submitted pictures from his most recent trip he was told that the newspaper no longer accept photographs from freelancers in the dangerous region where all the newspaper thought finally had some exceptional work before death said it had a policy in place not to take work from syria because the dangers of operating there are too great a respected journalist marie colvin was killed in syria while reporting for the sunday times finally said that it should be an individual's choice whether or not to enter the war torn region and the risk would be worth it if it led to the conflict in syria to the rest of the world. and another big fumble the new york

times dragging its feet in covering bradley manning's pretrial hearings. i also want to say the journalists who've been covering the bradley manning and. one whom you won't hear on that list the new york times. what you're seeing is journalists covering a trial that is very difficult to cover and you don't see the major media covering that trial. ratner wasn't the only one who felt that way after being repeatedly criticized by people inside and outside the press the new york times' own public editor margaret sullivan expressed her sense of shared disappointment at the missed opportunity saying quote beyond the story itself the times which considers itself the paper of record had an obligation to be there to bear witness because you know very real sense private manning was one of its.